Slavisa Jokanovic has hailed Ryan Sessegnon’s decision to remain with Fulham until at least the end of the current campaign as ‘fantastic news’.
Fulham’s vice chairman and director of football Tony Khan announced last night that highly coveted 17 year-old, who has featured in every league game so far this season, would not be leaving Craven Cottage during the January transfer window – dampening speculation that Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were close to concluding big-money moves for the England youth international. Jokanovic, who has been vocal about Fulham’s transfer policy in the best, was delighted with the news.
The Serbian head coach told today’s press conference at Motspur Park:
This is fantastic news for us, for myself, for my team, for the Club, for the supporters and for Ryan Sessegnon too. We’re probably going to start talking about a similar story in the summer, but now it’s a safe situation for us, like it is for him.
He can be focused only on daily work, and competing with Fulham. I don’t have any problem with Ryan, he’s a quiet man.
Jokanovic went on to stress just how impressed he has been with Sessegnon’s maturity since fast tracking him into Fulham’s first team squad at the tender age of 16 last season.
Ryan knows he’s going to be an important player for the next 15 years. Now it’s time for him to be focused on trying to prove himself in this period that’s immediately ahead of him and ahead of us.
I don’t need to send so many messages, all the messages that I need to send to Ryan I have sent to him and he understands perfectly. I must be really satisfied with his work and I don’t have any problem with this man, he shows high level of professionalism for one boy, well not boy, man, and at the end at 17-years-old he’s quiet and it’s only what I detect. He wants to improve himself and he is working daily, he’s focused on all the messages and for our plans in training and from games and I cannot complain about any step that this player has made.
The Fulham head coach insisted that the latest news would not alter Sessegnon’s focus in any respect.
This declaration from Tony Khan, I don’t believe will affect him in any negative way and is completely positive and this man I am sure will use these few months to improve himself and to improve his value in front of the older people who observe how he’s improving in this profession. At the end, the message is simple for him, he will stay and I understand he will accept it in a positive way and be in the best mood and way for this period in front of us.
